So talking about CRDs here, they all have a small tranny fluid cooler, build in as mentioned above. Sadly it doesn't really work too well, especcially if your towing, because it can't shed heat very well in that location. I have a Summit External Tranny cooler on mine, and it is installed in series with the original cooler (downstream, so that the original cooler does its thing first (as much as it can) , then the Summit takes it from there). There is a thread here (which I think I wrote up) about how to do it. Do a search, it might still be around.
I mounted mine upfront, left hand side so it gets good air flow before the stuff behind it. I used to run a fan on it but found it didn't make much difference.
I do have two inline tranny fluid sensors built into the coolant lines, one on the line out to the coolers, and one on the line back to the pan; I can tell you the Summit cooler makes a big difference, I usually see a 20C drop in fluid temp returning to the pan from the coolers in a hot summer. I have a dash switch that I can flip to move back and forth between sensors (a ProSport trans fluid temp gauge on the dash reports). I installed all of this for towing my camper, as on central Qld trips in summer the stock cooler was crap.
I also installed louvres in my bonnet to improve airflow (there is a thread on that as well, I used differential air pressure metre to plot the best bonnet location for the louvers to extract heat). You should consider upgrading the fan clutch as well, a Hayden Severe Duty one for the KJ helps alot, it locks up early and most stock fan clutchs failed along time ago. And throw away that plastic shroud over the engine if it's still there.
Last edited by glend; 07-06-2019 at 07:00 PM.
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